“Just ask her, man” Kevin says as Tadhg looks over at him with a glare, breaking his view from looking at her.

“Shut up” Tadhg mutters and shoves Kevin away as they head towards the lunch hall. Tadhg kept his head down and his eyes on his shoes to avoid his friends catching him staring at her. Again.

Tadhg had been going to Tommen for 4 years now, following in Joey and Shannon’s shoes. Johnny’s family had taken their whole family in when their father set their house on fire. Taking both Tadhg’s mam and dad. And ever since that first day at Tommen, where he saw her practically strutting the hallways like she owned the place, he had been obsessed.

Of course, he’d never actually had the guts to do anything about it. And he had tried to get over the small crush he had. But the more he flirted with other girls, kissed other girls, his brain always found a way to think about her. And the small crush just grew and grew.

The end of year dance was fast approaching and, although Tadhg had many girls asking for him to go with them, he didn’t have a date. Because she hadn’t asked him, and he was too scared to ask her. If she said no, he was sure he would never recover.

She was perfect to him. She had a strong Irish accent that grew stronger whenever something annoyed her, or she was angry. Her hair was always perfect, not a stand out of place, her makeup was minimal showing off her gorgeous features and her uniform was always perfect. She was great at sports and always got A’s in every test she had done. He was never going to be good enough for her, so he doesn’t even try to get close with her.

He’s pretty sure she doesn’t even know who he is.

Tadhg slumped down at the lunch table, with Kevin and Declan slotting in next to him.

“Seriously, what is holding you back?” Kevin says as he bites into his sandwich

“Have you seen her?” Tadhg replies, dumbfounded that anyone could even think that Tadhg had a chance

“Yeah, she’s hot” Declan says as Tadhg sends him a glare “And a great kisser”

“You’ve kissed her?” Tadhg asks as his shoulders slumps slightly

“No” Declan snorts and shoves a handful of crisps in his mouth “But Liam was bragging about it. Said he went to some party at the weekend and kissed her”

Tadhg’s heart sunk slightly. Liam was one of the most popular guys in school. Year above, great at rugby and all the girls love him. Of course he managed to kiss her.

“Don’t worry. I heard {{user}} telling her friends he was shit” Kevin says as Declan laughs and shoves more crisps in his mouth

“Honestly. Just say fuck it and go up and ask her” Declan shrugs “Oh look she’s walking past. Ask her now”

“What?” Tadhg says and looks up to see her walking through the lunch hall with her friends

“{{user}}!” Declan shouts as she looks over and he beckons her. She says bye to her friends and walks over and Tadhg felt his heart beating faster “Tadhg wants to ask you something”

“No I don’t” Tadhg says slapping Declan’s arm, but when he looked up to see her standing there looking at him, with a small smile he felt a spark of confidence grow

“Do you want to go to the dance with me?” Tadhg says, his heart beating rapidly in his chest